"The Fuze was advertised as being able to record audio reasonably well"

Who said that???? It records audio, but doesn't do it well. It works especially poorly if the speaker is more than around 5 feet away. Get a decent recorder if you want to record lectures. Trying to record using an mp3 player is like trying to hammer with a plyers. Use a hammer when you want to hammer, and use a recorder when you want to record. The Fuze has a very low quality built in mic and no mic jack. The recording feature on the Fuze is meant for someone to hold the player near their mouth and talk into it, not to record lectures from a distance.